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From the mind that brought you Junkyard Wolf's Junkyard
Showing posts with label geekstuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geekstuff. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Flirting is Now a College Course
Potsdam University wants its IT geek swamp to reproduce, after all.
Of course, only grad students need apply.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Of course, only grad students need apply.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Iron Man Justifies Iron Man 2
With music!
Oh, and Green Lantern and Deadpool fight over Ryan Reynolds....
Continuity!
Oh, and Green Lantern and Deadpool fight over Ryan Reynolds....
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Crysis: World's Most Beautiful Videogame
I'm not talking about its vapid storyline or its rather pedestrian gameplay. I'm talking about this:
These have got to be the best graphics in any videogame.
However, as with the Ark of the Covenant, anybody who sees this must die. Or at least, their PC must die. Achiveing graphics like this must shave years off the lifespan of your computer.
These have got to be the best graphics in any videogame.
However, as with the Ark of the Covenant, anybody who sees this must die. Or at least, their PC must die. Achiveing graphics like this must shave years off the lifespan of your computer.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Aging Like Fine (Boxed) Wine
The older he gets, the more David Wong proves he is the best writer on Cracked's staff.
His latest article on the immaturity of the self-professed gamer is the sort of mature mind candy (and it is still, as with all things Cracked, candy, with dong jokes and all) that no other Cracked writer can come up with without first undergoing a brain aneurism.
This is probably because he is the only guy on the staff with a wife and his own property. Nothing like growing up to make a man an adult.
His latest article on the immaturity of the self-professed gamer is the sort of mature mind candy (and it is still, as with all things Cracked, candy, with dong jokes and all) that no other Cracked writer can come up with without first undergoing a brain aneurism.
This is probably because he is the only guy on the staff with a wife and his own property. Nothing like growing up to make a man an adult.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
More Street Fighter
Apparently, the resurrected video game series has been getting a lot of fan love.
Here is Street Fighter: Beginning's End:
And here's Street Fighter Legacy:
Both have surprisingly good production values, especially Legacy. But I think Beginning's End has better fighting.
Overall, quite amazing.
Here is Street Fighter: Beginning's End:
And here's Street Fighter Legacy:
Both have surprisingly good production values, especially Legacy. But I think Beginning's End has better fighting.
Overall, quite amazing.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Groan You Hear is Me...
You would think that a woman who knows she is the dream girl of a subset of the population who subsist primarily on meat and cheese (pizza and hot pockets) would know better. But, noooooo....
Stupid Olivia Munn decides to get naked for PETA.
To honor her stupidity, view her nakedness while munching on a recently-slaughtered, deep fried former poultry of your choice.
Or, do it while watching a bear juggling bowling pins. Circuses are actually fun.
PS
Say what you will about Olivia Wilde, but she has not, to my knowledge, ever posed naked for these monsters. So there. (Though, it may just be a matter of time.)
Stupid Olivia Munn decides to get naked for PETA.
To honor her stupidity, view her nakedness while munching on a recently-slaughtered, deep fried former poultry of your choice.
Or, do it while watching a bear juggling bowling pins. Circuses are actually fun.
PS
Say what you will about Olivia Wilde, but she has not, to my knowledge, ever posed naked for these monsters. So there. (Though, it may just be a matter of time.)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
One More Reason to Never See "Avatar"
I take pride in being the last person on Earth to have never seen Cameron's monstrous "Titanic".
And now, I have one more reason to hold the same record for fucking "Avatar".
EW: “Avatar” is the perfect eco-terrorism recruiting tool.”
I wonder why the damn pussy won't make himself a Darwin Award recipient....
And now, I have one more reason to hold the same record for fucking "Avatar".
EW: “Avatar” is the perfect eco-terrorism recruiting tool.”
JC: Good, good. I like that one. I consider that a positive review. I believe in ecoterrorism.”
Yep, from the auteur's mouth himself, "Dances with Space Smurfs" is an eco-terrorist recruiting tool.
They should release an Avatar RTS game. One where we can play the Marines and totally annihilate the blue cat people. That's probably the only bit of Avatar junk I'd buy.
Ah, I suppose this dooms me to pop irrelevance. But it's better than becoming this pathetic.
I wonder why the damn pussy won't make himself a Darwin Award recipient....
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Would the Church Baptize E.T.?
The short answer is "yes". Although, the statement has met with some controversy. After all, it is an unfortunate fact that the only intellectual traditions left (in the West, at least) still consistently holding fast to "human exceptionalism" are those associated with churches, with the Catholic Church in the vanguard. Discovering E.T., as conventional wisdom goes, would be the death knell of any religion whose doctrine has even a whiff of human exceptionalism.
However, one look at at Church history will provide some interesting insights into how the Church would deal with previously unknown forms of sentient life. Mike Flynn, author of the novel "Eifelheim", pretty much covers the length, breadth and beauty of it in this blog post. Heck, you could probably just stop reading this one and go over there.
In case you're still here, the short version is this: the Greeks, Romans and Medieval Europeans, immersed in a world of myths and legends, are not quite as unfamiliar with the unknown as we pompously assume. They live in a world where sea worms devour ships, monopods hop about on one gigantic foot in some far-off land in mysterious Asia, and cannibals with table manners exist just off the edges of the known map. The modern Western fascination with extraterrestrial and life on places beyond our own maps likely stem from that ancient curiosity about the unknown. The Church, entwined as She was with all of medieval life, was no stranger to the question of unknown forms of life. The question of what to do with "aliens" has been addressed several times. The most curious case, as seen in Flynn's post, is that of the dogheads, a race of beings with human bodies and canine heads that always seem to live just beyond the known world, be it in farthest India, or in the snowy, shadowy North of Scandinavia. In the 9th century, a missionary named Rimbert planned to go evangelizing north into the Viking heartlands. He commissioned a sort of travel guide for what he thought he might encounter there. For the question on dogheads, he went to a monk named Ratramnus, who gave him a detailed "ethnographic" account of the life of dogheads. In it, he concludes that because the dogheads have rule of law, wear clothes to cover the privy parts, and have domesticated beasts serving them, they must be considered a "degenerate" form of the race of Adam (code for "strange, but still human"), and thus worthy of evangelization and salvation.
This kind of thing would become a big deal. It is this sort of reasoning that allowed the Church to conclude, far ahead of everybody else in Europe, that those "indios" in the New World (our ancestors) were human, and thus worthy of the full panoply of rights accorded to human dignity. If it applies to dogheads, it would damn well apply to people whose strangeness is confined to a different skin color and foreign cultural practices.
To further the argument, the Church has not only supposedly baptized them, but has a saint who was a doghead.
However, one look at at Church history will provide some interesting insights into how the Church would deal with previously unknown forms of sentient life. Mike Flynn, author of the novel "Eifelheim", pretty much covers the length, breadth and beauty of it in this blog post. Heck, you could probably just stop reading this one and go over there.
In case you're still here, the short version is this: the Greeks, Romans and Medieval Europeans, immersed in a world of myths and legends, are not quite as unfamiliar with the unknown as we pompously assume. They live in a world where sea worms devour ships, monopods hop about on one gigantic foot in some far-off land in mysterious Asia, and cannibals with table manners exist just off the edges of the known map. The modern Western fascination with extraterrestrial and life on places beyond our own maps likely stem from that ancient curiosity about the unknown. The Church, entwined as She was with all of medieval life, was no stranger to the question of unknown forms of life. The question of what to do with "aliens" has been addressed several times. The most curious case, as seen in Flynn's post, is that of the dogheads, a race of beings with human bodies and canine heads that always seem to live just beyond the known world, be it in farthest India, or in the snowy, shadowy North of Scandinavia. In the 9th century, a missionary named Rimbert planned to go evangelizing north into the Viking heartlands. He commissioned a sort of travel guide for what he thought he might encounter there. For the question on dogheads, he went to a monk named Ratramnus, who gave him a detailed "ethnographic" account of the life of dogheads. In it, he concludes that because the dogheads have rule of law, wear clothes to cover the privy parts, and have domesticated beasts serving them, they must be considered a "degenerate" form of the race of Adam (code for "strange, but still human"), and thus worthy of evangelization and salvation.
This kind of thing would become a big deal. It is this sort of reasoning that allowed the Church to conclude, far ahead of everybody else in Europe, that those "indios" in the New World (our ancestors) were human, and thus worthy of the full panoply of rights accorded to human dignity. If it applies to dogheads, it would damn well apply to people whose strangeness is confined to a different skin color and foreign cultural practices.
To further the argument, the Church has not only supposedly baptized them, but has a saint who was a doghead.
St. Christopher the Doghead
Yep, its the St. Christopher of the famous medal, who is most often depicted as carrying the Christ-child across a river. In the Irish account of his life, he received human form as a blessing of his conversion from the pagan cannibalism of the dogheads, and was martyred for the Faith. Unfortunately, he has been taken out of the official lists of Christian saints (though his cult is still allowed), although one can understand why.
Were the dogheads real? Probably not. But if we're allowed to believe in the inevitability of discovering sentient life in the broader universe, who is to say that there isn't a real race of dogheads out there, a group of whom may have already visited Earth? In any case, they have a patron waiting right here for them. Who says the Church cannot do E.T.?
PS
Potential Foundations Topic!!!
Yep, its the St. Christopher of the famous medal, who is most often depicted as carrying the Christ-child across a river. In the Irish account of his life, he received human form as a blessing of his conversion from the pagan cannibalism of the dogheads, and was martyred for the Faith. Unfortunately, he has been taken out of the official lists of Christian saints (though his cult is still allowed), although one can understand why.
Were the dogheads real? Probably not. But if we're allowed to believe in the inevitability of discovering sentient life in the broader universe, who is to say that there isn't a real race of dogheads out there, a group of whom may have already visited Earth? In any case, they have a patron waiting right here for them. Who says the Church cannot do E.T.?
PS
Potential Foundations Topic!!!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Video Games and Religion
Australian video game web magazine "The Escapist" does religion and video games here. (Note: look for issue 205)
While the articles are not particularly insightful, I am quite impressed that the topic was broached at all. And some of the stuff (particularly, the one about digital missionaries) are noteworthy. But what I liked about it the most was this awesome image:
Marcus Fenix: Inquisitor 2026
While the articles are not particularly insightful, I am quite impressed that the topic was broached at all. And some of the stuff (particularly, the one about digital missionaries) are noteworthy. But what I liked about it the most was this awesome image:
Marcus Fenix: Inquisitor 2026Monday, April 6, 2009
Human Ancestors Tell Dawkins to Shove It Up His Ass
Richard Dawkins, famous for his "selfish gene" theory, clearly knows almost nothing of human nature. That's the problem of living in the ivory tower. Like Doctor Manhattan, you lose touch with humanity. Although, I don't think Dr. Dawkins will be walking around ass-naked with his non-Jewishness hanging out and about.
The depth of Dawkins' ignorance can be seen in a particular archeological finding (full PDF version here) in Spain. At first glance, it seems like any other archeological finding from a region relatively rich in archeological artifacts. In this case, it is the skull of a little girl, 530,000 years old, who seems to have been born with a severe genetic defect known as lambdoid single suture craniosynostosis (SSC), which causes frightening deformities and mental retardation. The significant passages (from the full PDF version) are these.
Here, we discuss a Middle Pleistocene case of a serious congenital skull deformation that may have required extra conspecific care for the individual to survive for a number of years before he/she died at the end of childhood.
If brain development of SH hominids is similar to that of modern humans, as it has been suggested in some studies (14–16), the individual represented by Cranium 14 was at least 5- to 8-years-old, because it had reached an adult brain size by the time he/she died.
It is obvious that the SH hominin species did not act against the abnormal/ill individuals during the infancy, as has happened along our own history many times and in many cultures...
Even these barely human ancestors of ours, already carrying signs of the uniqueness of our creation, are capable of telling whatever "selfish gene" exists in their system to go take a nosedive off a cliff. Here, we have evidence of an early humanity already growing beyond the paradigm of natural selection and "survival of the fittest", caring for a severely, frighteningly (just search for pics of people with SSC nowadays) deformed member of their own family. For a child to reach 5 to 8 years old with a condition this debilitating implies extraordinary care on the part of the early human hunter gatherers, who could be slowed down and starved by such a "burden". And yet, where was the "selfish gene" that would demand the termination of this survival-threatening "burden"? It seems to have developed magically among human beings around the time when they started building civilizations. In terms of care and recognition of human dignity, it seems that these hunter-gatherers are superior to the Spartans. It seems that human arrogance and human achievement go together like frequent dance partners. But, don't tell that to Dr. "Genes Made Me Do It" Dawkins.
The extraordinary implications of these kinds of discovery show a humanity who, even in the dreaded state of nature, is capable of a divine goodness unseen anywhere else. The closing stanza of A. D. Hope's poem "Meditation on a Bone", used in the MercatorNet article where I first discovered this find, seems an appropriate eulogy for these people.
And, in a foreign tongue,
A man, who is not he,
Reads and his heart is wrung
This ancient grief to see,
And thinks: When I am dung,
What bone shall speak for me?
The depth of Dawkins' ignorance can be seen in a particular archeological finding (full PDF version here) in Spain. At first glance, it seems like any other archeological finding from a region relatively rich in archeological artifacts. In this case, it is the skull of a little girl, 530,000 years old, who seems to have been born with a severe genetic defect known as lambdoid single suture craniosynostosis (SSC), which causes frightening deformities and mental retardation. The significant passages (from the full PDF version) are these.
Here, we discuss a Middle Pleistocene case of a serious congenital skull deformation that may have required extra conspecific care for the individual to survive for a number of years before he/she died at the end of childhood.
If brain development of SH hominids is similar to that of modern humans, as it has been suggested in some studies (14–16), the individual represented by Cranium 14 was at least 5- to 8-years-old, because it had reached an adult brain size by the time he/she died.
It is obvious that the SH hominin species did not act against the abnormal/ill individuals during the infancy, as has happened along our own history many times and in many cultures...
Even these barely human ancestors of ours, already carrying signs of the uniqueness of our creation, are capable of telling whatever "selfish gene" exists in their system to go take a nosedive off a cliff. Here, we have evidence of an early humanity already growing beyond the paradigm of natural selection and "survival of the fittest", caring for a severely, frighteningly (just search for pics of people with SSC nowadays) deformed member of their own family. For a child to reach 5 to 8 years old with a condition this debilitating implies extraordinary care on the part of the early human hunter gatherers, who could be slowed down and starved by such a "burden". And yet, where was the "selfish gene" that would demand the termination of this survival-threatening "burden"? It seems to have developed magically among human beings around the time when they started building civilizations. In terms of care and recognition of human dignity, it seems that these hunter-gatherers are superior to the Spartans. It seems that human arrogance and human achievement go together like frequent dance partners. But, don't tell that to Dr. "Genes Made Me Do It" Dawkins.
The extraordinary implications of these kinds of discovery show a humanity who, even in the dreaded state of nature, is capable of a divine goodness unseen anywhere else. The closing stanza of A. D. Hope's poem "Meditation on a Bone", used in the MercatorNet article where I first discovered this find, seems an appropriate eulogy for these people.
And, in a foreign tongue,
A man, who is not he,
Reads and his heart is wrung
This ancient grief to see,
And thinks: When I am dung,
What bone shall speak for me?
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A Guy Named Yahtzee Reviews "Eve Online"
I don't have any stake in "Eve Online". Don't play it, don't give a damn about it. But, watching this guy review this apparently massive turd of a game was sheer delight. I don't know. Maybe I just have a big soft spot for misanthropes. Watch this and find out for yourself. Oh, and a word of caution. He talks really fast.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Life Imitates Brain Fart Conversations
Joao, a good friend of mine, mentioned before his teaching demo that he wanted to refer to World War I, the inter-war period and World War II (covering a period from 1914-1945) collectively as the Second Thirty Years War.
Earlier tonight, I found this, written by the inimitable "Spengler" of the Asia Times. (I'm a big fan of his work.) To wit:
A red line connects the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 to the Second Thirty Years War of 1914-1945. Whether the Puritans were right to conclude that Europe already had been lost for Christianity is a matter for historians to debate. But it is hard to imagine how Europe might have avoided the victory of communism or fascism were it not for the United States, now the only major nation in which Christianity remains at the center of public life.
Hehe, wanna ask for royalties, Joao?
BTW, the article, and the book being reviewed therein, are worth a look. Certainly made my night.
Earlier tonight, I found this, written by the inimitable "Spengler" of the Asia Times. (I'm a big fan of his work.) To wit:
A red line connects the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 to the Second Thirty Years War of 1914-1945. Whether the Puritans were right to conclude that Europe already had been lost for Christianity is a matter for historians to debate. But it is hard to imagine how Europe might have avoided the victory of communism or fascism were it not for the United States, now the only major nation in which Christianity remains at the center of public life.
Hehe, wanna ask for royalties, Joao?
BTW, the article, and the book being reviewed therein, are worth a look. Certainly made my night.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A Canterbury Tale
Here's a parody of the the buffoonery of the Anglican hierarchy, laid out in a way only a lover of Ye Olde Englishe could appreciate.
"Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte
my favorite lines:
"Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte
my favorite lines:
41 Sayth the libertine, “’tis well and goode
42 But sharia goes now where nae it should;
43 I liketh bigge buttes and I cannot lye,
44 You othere faelows can’t denye,
...
53 “But Father Williams,” sayed the Gaye-manne
54 “Though I am but a layman
55 The Mussleman youthes hath smyte me so
56 Whan on streets I saunter wyth my beau.”
57 Sayed the Bishop in a curt replye
58 “I am as toolrant as anye oothere guy,
59 But if Mussleman law sayes no packynge fudge,
60 Really nowe, who are we to judge?”
...
98 Of Englande folk, one thynge is certan:
99 Dying by theyr own thousande cuts,
100 The Englande folk are folking nuts.
101 BURMA SHAVE
"Folking nuts" indeed!
Iowahawk is brilliant!
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Politics of Alan Moore
Alan Moore is, according to this blog essay, an unapologetic Communist. Not an anarchist, not a socialist, but a full blown Marxist-Leninist.
All in all, the point is quite interesting, and the case is made persuasively.
And if what this guy says about Moore's "The Killing Joke" is true, then I think I'll pass on it. Blech.
All in all, the point is quite interesting, and the case is made persuasively.
And if what this guy says about Moore's "The Killing Joke" is true, then I think I'll pass on it. Blech.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
"Star Wars" - an a cappella tribute to John Williams
This guy does several John Williams classics with Star Wars lyrics...with the notable exception of John Williams' actual Star Wars stuff.
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